Actor Charlie Carver Comes Out as Gay

Teen Wolf actor Charlie Carver came out yesterday on Instagram.

Carver shared five emotional posts on Instagram, explaining his decision to come out and to live openly and authentically. Each post was a picture of an image that read, “Be who you needed when you were younger.”

“As a young boy, I knew I wanted to be an actor…It was around that age that I also knew, however abstractly, that I was different from some of the other boys in my grade,” he wrote in his first post. “Over time, this abstract ‘knowing’ grew and articulated itself through a painful gestation marked by feelings of despair and alienation, ending in a climax of saying three words out loud: ‘I am gay.’”

The 27-year-old actor is best known for his roles in Teen Wolf, Desperate Housewives and The Leftovers.

“I now believe that by omitting this part of myself from the record, I am complicit in perpetuating the suffering, fear, and shame cast upon so many in the world," he continued. "So now, let the record show this -- I self-identify as gay ... I owe it to myself, more than anything, to be who I needed when I was younger."

Coming out - whether it is as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or allied – matters. When people know someone who is LGBTQ, they are far more likely to support equality under the law. Beyond that, our stories can be powerful to each other.

Whether it's for the first time ever or the first time today, the experience of coming out and living openly covers the full spectrum of human emotion -- from fear to euphoria. Coming out -- whether it is as LGBT or allied -- is a deeply personal journey for each individual.